Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea the singer alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.
